The manufacture of integrated circuits (IC), semiconductor devices, flat panel displays, optoelectronics devices, data storage devices, magneto-electronic devices, magneto-optic devices, packaged devices, and the like entails the integration and sequencing of many unit processing steps. As an example, IC manufacturing typically includes a series of processing steps such as cleaning, surface preparation, deposition, lithography, patterning, etching, planarization, implantation, thermal annealing, and other related unit processing steps. The precise sequencing and integration of the unit processing steps enables the formation of functional devices meeting desired performance metrics such as speed, power consumption, and reliability.
As part of the discovery, optimization and qualification of each unit process, it is desirable to be able to i) test different materials, ii) test different processing conditions within each unit process module, iii) test different sequencing and integration of processing modules within an integrated processing tool, iv) test different sequencing of processing tools in executing different process sequence integration flows, and combinations thereof in the manufacture of devices such as integrated circuits. In particular, there is a need to be able to test i) more than one material, ii) more than one processing condition, iii) more than one sequence of processing conditions, iv) more than one process sequence integration flow, and combinations thereof, collectively known as “combinatorial process sequence integration”, on a single monolithic substrate without the need of consuming the equivalent number of monolithic substrates per material(s), processing condition(s), sequence(s) of processing conditions, sequence(s) of processes, and combinations thereof. This can greatly improve both the speed and reduce the costs associated with the discovery, implementation, optimization, and qualification of material(s), process(es), and process integration sequence(s) required for manufacturing.
Systems and methods for High Productivity Combinatorial (HPC) processing are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,544,574 filed on Feb. 10, 2006, U.S. Pat. No. 7,824,935 filed on Jul. 2, 2008, U.S. Pat. No. 7,871,928 filed on May 4, 2009, U.S. Pat. No. 7,902,063 filed on Feb. 10, 2006, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,947,531 filed on Aug. 28, 2009 which are all herein incorporated by reference. Systems and methods for HPC processing are further described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/352,077 filed on Feb. 10, 2006, claiming priority from Oct. 15, 2005, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/419,174 filed on May 18, 2006, claiming priority from Oct. 15, 2005, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/674,132 filed on Feb. 12, 2007, claiming priority from Oct. 15, 2005, and U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/674,137 filed on Feb. 12, 2007, claiming priority from Oct. 15, 2005 which are all herein incorporated by reference.
HPC processing techniques have been successfully adapted to wet chemical processing such as etching and cleaning. HPC processing techniques have also been successfully adapted to deposition processes such as physical vapor deposition (PVD), atomic layer deposition (ALD), and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). However, the HPC systems used for development of PVD, ALD, and CVD processes have not implemented a variable for rotation within each site isolated region.
One class of deposition methods that has not been successfully adapted to HPC processing techniques involves the use of metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) technologies for the deposition of thin films. Issues arise in the adaptation of HPC techniques to MOCVD technologies due to the high temperatures and corrosive gases that are typical of MOCVD processes. Additionally, rotation is often an important variable in the development of MOCVD processes.
MOCVD processes are used for the deposition of a number of important materials and devices. MOCVD is used in the formation of III-V materials such as GaAs, GaAlAs, InP, GaP, GaN, etc. MOCVD is also used in the formation of II-VI materials such as CdTe, CdS, ZnSe, ZnS, etc. These materials are used in devices such as compound semiconductor ICs, solar cells, light emitting diodes (LED), solid state lasers, etc. These materials are expensive and the development times can be long.
Therefore, there is a need to develop systems that allow HPC processing techniques to include a rotation variable within each site isolated region. There is an additional need to develop systems that allow HPC processing techniques to be adapted to MOCVD deposition processes to improve the efficiency of development activities and lower the costs of development activities. There is also a need to develop systems that can be scaled to a variety of substrate sizes ranging from small semiconductor substrates to large solar panels.